Tiamat

In Babylonianmythology, Tiamat is one of the foundational principles of the universe known as a maelstrom of dark, roiling seawater.[1] In the cosmogonic myth outlined in the Enûma Elish, the Babylonian creation epic, she combines with Apsu (the personification of fresh water), and their union gives rise to the first generation of gods. After becoming outraged at the conduct of her offspring, she spawns a horde of demons and attempts to destroy the entire pantheon, after which point she is slain by the storm-god Marduk. In an etiological sense, the materiality of the world is explained with the suggestion that it actually consists of the fragmented corpse of the great mother goddess. In this more corporeal guise, Tiamat is often thought to have had the form of a dragon, serpent or other hideous beast.

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As the Babylonian and Semitic societies were closely related (in terms of religion and culture), certain elements of this primordial myth continue to be evidenced in the Judeo-Christian tradition, such as the decidedly aquatic description of primordial chaos in Genesis 1.2: "Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters."[2]

Etymology

Thorkild Jacobsen and Walter Burkert both argue for an etymological connection between the goddess' name and the Akkadian word for sea (tâmtu) in its earlier form (ti'amtum), which was derived from the Sumerian ti ("life") and ama ("mother").[3] Jacobson explicates this identity by drawing upon a fortuitous copyist's error:

That she is, in fact, the sea can be seen from the opening lines of the epic where it is said that she and the sweet waters, Apsu, mingled their waters together, and from the fact that some copyists of Enuma elish write tâmtum, the normal form of the word for "sea," for Tiamat. This would hardly have been possible if her identity with the sea had not been clearly felt by the copyist and his readers.[4]

Tiamat has also been claimed to be also cognate with West Semitic "tehwom" ("the deeps") mentioned in Genesis 1 (which represents one of the correspondences that will be explored in more detail below).[5]

Mythology

Appearance and characterization

First and foremost, Babylonian mythology characterizes Tiamat as the salty, primordial sea, whose roiling chaos provided the generative force for the first living deities (as discussed below). In addition to this cosmogonic role, she also played the part of the cosmic aggressor, lashing out violently against the younger gods who lost her favor. In this context, as told in the Enuma Elish, her physical description includes, a tail, a thigh, "lower parts" (which shake together), a belly, an udder, ribs, a neck, a head, a skull, eyes, nostrils, a mouth, and lips. She has insides, a heart, arteries, and blood.

Hornblower provides a sketch of the sources detailing her more menacing (and more concrete) physical form in his study of early representations of dragons:

Tiamatis generally represented as a kind of fierce griffin, but in early cylinders as a huge snake (W., p. 198, figs. 578-9; and Budge: "The Babylonian Legends of Creation," 29); the latter version seems to be the earlier, and it may be that when the myth traveled inland to Assyria, and the hero became Assur instead of Bel-Marduk (and before him, perhaps, of Ea or Enlil), the form of the monster changed in sympathy-a suggestion which cannot at present be confirmed, for as yet no early Babylonian cylinders rendering the combat have been found (W., p. 197). As Tiamat was a creature of the ocean, she should be, at least theoretically, clad in scales, and in fact dragons are often thus depicted, notably the great ones decorating the walls of the Ishtar Gate of Babylon, where they served, of course, for protection; they are griffin-shaped with scaly bodies and serpents' heads with the reptile's flickering tongue (L.W. King: "A History of Babylon," p. 51, fig. 13). The dragon in this form was the attribute-animal of Be1 (M., vol. i, p. 226, fig. 137); as a griffin it had the same connection with the god Assur, and may be seen accompanying him as he fights Tiamat, who herself has the same shape (W., p. 199, figs. 567-8)—a scene illustrating strikingly the double nature of the monster, tutelary in one connection, malignant in another.[6]

This description accords well with Barton's earlier account:

We learn, however, from Babylonian and Assylian sculptures and seals that Tiamat was regarded not only as the female watery principle, whose waters through union with those of the male principle produced all life, but also as a seadragon with the head of a tiger or griffin, with wings, four feet, claws, and a scaly tail. This composite figure was evidently intended to signify both the power and the hideousness of this evil enemy of the great gods.[7]

Creation

The Babylonian cosmogony, as outlined in the Enuma Elish and elsewhere, begins in the formless primordial chaos that predated the phenomenal world. In this void, two primeval principles met and intermingled: Tiamat, the "shining" personification of salt water, and Apsu, the male deity of fresh water. This process is described poetically in the Enuma Elish:

The offspring of the union between these two beings included the earliest generation of Mesopotamian deities, such as the Elder Gods Lahmu and Lahamu (the "muddy"). The gods, in turn, were the parents of the axis of the heavens (Anshar (from An ("heaven") and Shar ("axle or pivot")) and the earth (Kishar), who eventually sired Ea (Enki) and Anu—the two most important deities of their generation.[9]

Theorists have offered two disparate etiological explanations for the specifics of this creation account, one geographical and the other psychological. In the first case, they have noted that the "mixing of the waters" as a source of fecundity is a natural metaphor for residents of the Persian Gulf, where fresh waters from the Arabian aquifer mix and mingle with the salt waters of the sea.[10] This characteristic is especially true of the region of Bahrain (whose name means in Arabic, "twin waters"), which is thought to be the site of Dilmun, the fabled site where this creation account took place.[11] In the second case, it is postulated that this understanding of the primordial state of the universe could have arisen as the result of a pre-scientific thought experiment:

In an effort to conceptualize the pre-cosmic state, a process commonly employed in early speculative thought is to reverse in the imagination the evolutionary sequence-to begin from the world of experience and systematically think away the components of that world. What remains is the state of "existence" as it must have been before the coming-to-be of the first element of empirical reality. The representation of the primeval watery state which opens the Mesopotamian creation text Enuma Elish is a characteristic example [passage quoted above]. … In this conceptual process each item of the cosmic order is simply negated, allowing "nothing" to be conceptualized somewhat less abstractly as "not-any-thing." As is evident from this example, the details of such a process are culturally determined, reflecting what each particular world-view holds to be the minimal defining features of cosmic or social structure.[12]

Contention with Marduk

The Enuma Elish then describes the younger generation of gods, in their zeal to celebrate their material existence, throwing an elaborate party, replete with dancing, laughter, and music. This racket aggravated Apsu, who decided that he could not abide by the noise and chaos of these youthful deities and decided to kill them. Hearing about this villainous plan, Enki (the crafty god) ensorceled the divine patriarch and slew him in his sleep. When Tiamat was informed of her consort's murder, she flew into a rage and decided to exterminate younger gods once and for all.[13]

In her rage, the elder goddess decided to use her generative power for ill, spawning a legion of monstrosities to destroy the young gods:

Two of the gods, Enki and Anu, initially attempted to stand against her wrath, but were repelled by her ferocious forces. Fearing for their lives, they beseeched Marduk, Enki's powerful son, to stand against the vicious goddess. Once they promised to revere him as "king of the Gods" after his success, the divine hero sallied forth, battled the chaotic goddess (and her minions) and eventually overcame her. After Tiamat was destroyed, Marduk dissected her enormous body and used her remains to construct the cosmos:[15]

The entirety of the material creation was thus generated, with half of her body as the sky, the other half as the earth, her ribs (or thigh bones) as the vault of heaven and earth, her monstrous udder as the mountains, her weeping eyes as the source of the Tigris and the Euphratesand her poisonous spittle as the earthly moisture (clouds, winds, rain, and fog).[17] Kingu, the servant of the saltwater goddess, was captured and was later slain, so that his red blood could be mixed with the red clay of the Earth to make the bodies of the first humans. From a philological perspective, Hansen notes that these transformations are more homologous than alchemical:

In some homologous transformations it is unclear whether a physical metamorphosis actually takes place at all. The roof of the Babylonian cosmos may be literally nothing other than the upper half of Tiamat, just as the Norse sky may consist simply of Ymir's unmodified skull. Consequently, unlike radical transformations, in which the central fact is a permanent physical change, in homologous transformations it is a permanent change of function.[18]

Resonances in other Near Eastern religions

Given the cultural continuity between the Sumerians, Babylonians, and Hebrews,[19] many scholars have explored possible connections between their mythological and religious traditions. One intriguing point of potential syncretism is the description of the cosmos before creation as a chaotic, watery void[20]—a conception that some see as an archaic remnant of a primeval struggle between Yahweh and Tiamat.[21] Another is the potential correspondence between Tiamat and the fantastic beasts described in the books of Ezekiel,[22]Habakkuk,[23] and Isaiah.[24] It has also been suggested that the battle between David and Goliath was an archetypal retelling of the conflict between Marduk (a youth who desires kingship) and Tiamat (a malevolent giant).[25] Finally, some scholars have proposed the possibility that the Leviathan mentioned in the Book of Revelations (12:7-12) is simply a characterization of Tiamat in her monstrous, serpentine guise.[26]

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